Florida Dinner Goes Dark

By COLlive reporter

Much effort goes into organizing a gala dinner – honorees, hall, catering, music, decorations, invitations and awards.

So imagine how the director of the hosting organization feels when a power outage makes the place to go dark in the middle of the program without anything he can do about it.

Luckily for Rabbi Yisroel and Leah Spalter, when that happened at their dinner celebrating Chabad of Weston’s 15th anniversary, they had candles on each table.

When a power failure hit some South Florida cities, 250 guests of Chabad dressed in their best were sitting at the Weston Hills Country Club on March 27.

“It turned out for the best because we had candles all around the room and people later came over to say that it gave it an interesting atmosphere and ambiance,” Rabbi Spalter told COLlive.com.

But he admits it was nerve-wracking at first. “I would not wanted it to happen again,” he states.

At that point in the evening, the guest speaker Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Jacobson, the gifted orator, took to the podium and delivered a fascinating keynote address that had the crowd spellbound for 40 minutes.

“Not having a microphone had them listen more attentively,” says Rabbi Spalter. “You could literally hear a pin drop during the speech.”

Rabbi Jacobson, head of TheYeshiva.net study website, treated the crowd to a duet with Junior Jewish Star 5771 Yisroel Amar, singing traditional Jewish songs.

Earlier, when Amar sang, “tears were brought to many eyes as he sang such beautiful heartfelt songs that moved the heart and stirred emotions,” Spalter said.

Two couples, Ken and Edie Scherer and Roy and Terry Shewitz were honored with awards and were recognized for their outstanding commitment to Chabad of Weston.

A great time was had by all as the Tekiah orchestra brought everyone to their feet for some very lebedike dancing.